Environmental Defenders Office welcomes the opportunity to comment on the exposure draft of the National Environmental Standard (Community Engagement) 2026 (Community Engagement Standard). The Community Engagement Standard is one of the Standards recommended by Professor Graeme Samuel AC in his independent review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. EDO supports the creation of a Community Engagement Standard, as an important way to improve the quality and integrity of decisions by ensuring that local knowledge, scientific expertise and diverse community perspectives are considered in the decision-making process. However, we believe the draft Community Engagement Standard must be significantly strengthened to achieve these goals of improving quality and integrity in decision-making in order to build public trust.